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Google will display an anti-SOPA message on its homepage tomorrow

According to Cnet, Google will be adding its presence to the SOPA protest online tomorrow. The search giant has released a statement saying that it will join Reddit and Wikipedia to show its opposition to the controversial bill going through Congress.

Rather than ‘go dark’ for the day like some other sites, the search giant will place a link to an anti-SOPA message on its front page. The Google front page is often used to celebrate anniversaries, the lives of artists or engineers who have influenced culture more generally but to our knowledge it has never supported a current political movements on its landing page.

Cnet reports that a Google spokeswoman says, “Like many businesses, entrepreneurs and web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet. So tomorrow we will be joining many other tech companies to highlight this issue on our US home page.”

The blackout of sites on Wednesday 18th to protest SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) has been hotly debated across the web with Twitter’s CEO, Dick Costolo calling the blackout “foolish for business” and some online writers questioning the value of closing a site in order to make a point.

Martin Bryant was Editor-at-Large at The Next Web. He left the company in April 2016 for pastures new. You can find him on Twitter, on Snapchat as Martinsfp, subscribe to him on Facebook and visit his personal site. He's based in Manchester, UK and has a thing for quirky American music and Japanese video games.